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Attachment & Human Development 9(2), 95-109, 2007
Correlations between anxious attachment and neuroticism (usually about 0.40 to 0.50) prompt questions about whether self-reported anxious attachment captures a key construct in attachment theory or if it reflects a more general personality trait instead. A college sample of late adolescents and young adults (N = 287) was used to show that questionnaire measures of neuroticism and anxious attachment do not have a simple linear association; instead, neuroticism and anxious attachment have a more complex dynamic relationship that is moderated by avoidant attachment, an attachment style that reflects an interpersonally derived strategy for affect regulation. The association between neuroticism and anxious attachment is further moderated by conscientiousness, a personality trait that may reflect a more biologically mediated system of affect regulation. These separate moderating effects and the different affect regulation systems they reflect are discussed in the context of long-standing debates about how personality traits and attachment styles influence each other.
Attachment & Human Development 9(4), 343-353, 2007
The centenary of John Bowlby's birth provides a context for considering the policy, research and practice legacies that he left for practitioners working in many different fields supporting couples and families. Part historical, and part forward-looking, this paper considers the links between attachment in the infant-parent dyad that was at the heart of Bowlby's concern and the nature of the affective ties that bind couples together in adult romantic relationships. An overview of the influence of his theory on family policy and adult attachment research is followed by an appreciation of its significance for the pr